


Another Beginning is Starting Again

by small_town_girl



Category: Glee
Genre: Brotherhood, Bullying, Character Death, Crying, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-10
Updated: 2011-09-10
Packaged: 2017-10-23 14:32:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/251369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/small_town_girl/pseuds/small_town_girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for a prompt on the Glee Angst Meme: Kurt never expected that something as simple as Math homework would cause Finn to break down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Beginning is Starting Again

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Finn: Where's that water coming from?  
> Kurt: Finn, you're crying.

“Hello Finn,” Kurt said as he passed by Finn’s open door. His stepbrother had been holed up in his bedroom all evening with homework, with a threat from Carole that all the work had better be done before Finn tried to make any plans for the weekend or else he wouldn’t be going out at all for the next two weeks. Kurt had expected a lot of pleading and negotiating from Finn to be allowed out because it was Friday night and Mike was hosting a video game marathon but Finn hadn’t complained once.

The lack of complaining is what had Kurt walking passed Finn’s room for the fifth time that night.

“Hey,” Finn was quiet. It bothered Kurt to see Finn working away on his homework without trying to find any excuse to get out of it. Kurt was expecting Finn to start complaining to him, seeking sympathy for his unfair confinement but besides the initial greeting, Finn was silent.

“Do you want some help?” he offered. He and Finn hadn’t had a lot of time to spend together, at least by themselves, in a while but Kurt had no plans that night.

“Okay,” Finn’s acceptance lacked the usual enthusiasm when Kurt offered his help.

They went through English and History easily but when they got to Math, it was like hitting a road block. Kurt tried to explain it several different ways but Finn couldn’t grasp any of them. He could tell his stepbrother was getting frustrated but Math never was Kurt’s strongest subject so it was difficult for him to try to explain it to Finn.

“How about we leave this for Carole to help with?” he finally suggested. “I’m horrible at Math.”

Finn nodded but he didn’t look away from the problems written on his sheet.

“Where’s that water coming from?” he asked and Kurt noticed a few wet spots on Finn’s worksheet. Another drop landed, blurring an answer Kurt was sure was wrong. “Is my roof leaking? Is it even raining outside?”

“Finn,” Kurt gently grasped Finn’s hand and lifted it to touch Finn’s cheek. “You’re crying.”

“Oh,” Finn said quietly.

Kurt had expected Finn to deny it, claim it was allergies or something was stuck in his eye. Finn hadn’t cried in, well Kurt couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Finn cry. His stepbrother may put on a touch act at school but Kurt had witnessed tears during more than one movie, some which Kurt hadn’t never cried at, so for Finn to go so long without crying was odd.

“Finn, what’s wrong?”

“Rachel used to help me with Math,” Finn said quietly.

Kurt was surprised when Finn leaned over to rest his head against his shoulder. It was awkward with their height difference but somehow Finn managed to make his large body fit tightly against Kurt’s smaller one.

“Boys, we’re home,” Kurt heard his dad shout from downstairs. He was worried hearing their parents’ voices would cause Finn to shut down; after all Finn was a master at burying his emotions.

Finn just kept crying into his shoulder, not even noticing when their parents came into the room. He could see on Carole’s face that she wanted to cradle her son in her arms but she held back, obviously not wanting to ruin the moment. They’d all been waiting for Finn to finally break from holding back all his emotions from the past few weeks. Losing Rachel has affected Finn far more than he allowed anyone to know and lately he spent most of his time either hiding in his room or with Quinn because she wouldn’t mention Rachel’s name.

Kurt had overheard their parents talking about setting up a meeting for Finn with a therapist, not Miss Pilsbury but one that came highly recommended by one of Carole’s co-workers. They were worried about Finn, he was worried about Finn, their friends were worried about Finn, even Sue Sylvester had stopped him in the hall earlier in the week to tell him to find a way to get the sad puppy expression off Finn’s face because it was no fun insulting him when she couldn‘t get a reaction.

Kurt still expected to walk into the living room after a date with Blaine to find Rachel and Finn making out on the couch with Funny Girl playing in the background.

**

It had been the first day of school and Kurt had been subjected to walking in on too many Finn and Rachel make-out sessions on the couch during the summer so he was happy to be back. Carole would not allow Rachel in Finn’s bedroom, even if she or Burt were home, so the couch or backyard were their only options since Rachel’s dads had the same rules at her house. Their relationship couldn’t have been any stronger. Then Rachel had walked away, leaving Finn at his locker staring after her.

Kurt had met Finn at his locker a few minutes later, as planned so they could drive home together. They were almost out the door when the sounds of someone screaming ‘Fight! Fight!’ echoed through the halls and all the students still present took off running toward the voice. Kurt kept walking, not caring about a fight that was probably between two idiot jocks, and to his surprise Finn stayed with him. He’d expected Finn to be one of the ones charging through the crowd to see who was fighting but his stepbrother never left his side.

It wasn’t until they were walking through the door that they found out what had happened. The fight had been between Santana and one of the new Cheerios. That part wasn’t too surprising, considering last year Santana had started more than a few fights. What was shocking was that Santana had fought the Cheerios in defence of Rachel. The new cheerleader had thought she’d be able to impress some of the seniors if she did something to humiliate the Cheerios’ favourite target.

Santana was the one to tell Kurt the whole story. The Cheerio had snuck up behind Rachel while the girl was getting something out of her locker and just pushed. Hard. Santana was pretty sure the Cheerio hadn’t meant to hurt Rachel, just humiliate her, but Rachel was so tiny that the diva practically flew into her locker and didn’t move. Santana had flung herself at the Cheerio so she wasn’t sure of all the details. All she could remember was being pulled off the cowering girl by Sue and Quinn screaming at someone to call an ambulance.

There had been no need to all meet at the hospital and wait for word on their friend. Rachel had died instantly, her neck broken from the impact of hitting the shelf of her locker at the wrong angle. If she’d been assigned a top locker that year she would still be alive.

Their parents had come home to find them on the couch, with Kurt curled up against Finn’s side crying and Finn staring blankly at the wall. Over the next few days it became obvious to everyone that Finn wasn’t accepting Rachel’s death; he was ignoring it. She was still his girlfriend, she was away with her dads, she’d show up again because they needed her.

**

Kurt had cried a lot since that day but Finn hadn’t shed a tear until today. Finn was the only member of the club not to cry for Rachel but everyone knew it would happen. He couldn’t live in denial forever. For it to be something as simple as Rachel not able to help him with his Math homework that broke through Finn’s denial wasn’t something Kurt had expected. It wasn’t her absence from every Glee practice, it wasn’t three weeks with no date, it was an every day thing that he normally had to be forced to do that caused his breakdown.

He didn’t know what to do. He just held his brother and looked to their parents for help.

Carole was the first to react, walking over to the bed and sitting on Finn’s other side. Kurt let her take over, slipping off the bed as Finn buried his face against his mother’s shoulder. He started to back away, wanting to give Finn some privacy to grieve for his girlfriend, but his father’s arms wrapped around him. He felt his eyes burning with tears, for Rachel, for Finn, for their friends, and for the scary realization he hadn’t shared with anyone. It could have easily been him.


End file.
